Vehicles, such as but not limited to cars, trains, aircraft, and ships, are converting from combustible energy sources such as gasoline to using electric motors powered by batteries. For example, hybrid electric vehicles are now widely available that can use energy derived from a battery as well as another source, such as an internal combustion engine. In addition, full electrically-powered vehicles that use energy derived solely from a battery are also available to consumers.
Many of these electric vehicles suffer from differing problems that prevent them from being widely adopted. For example, some electric vehicles have very limited range, which makes the cars less desirable to consumers. One method of increasing range has been a program wherein electric vehicles are designed to have their battery packs rapidly changed out, such as at a service station, much in the way that current consumers fill a tank with gasoline.
In addition, replacement or repair of large lithium ion battery backs, such as those disposed within electric vehicles, can be quite expensive and even dangerous. The voltages generated by these battery packs are quite high and not user serviceable.